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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895221">Mindful Memories</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoodAI/pseuds/NLoods'>NLoods (LoodAI)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, I'm Bad At Summaries, Implied Character Death, Implied Relationship, may also contain spoilers for the comic, may be a little dark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:00:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoodAI/pseuds/NLoods</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Back then, I was always alone.<br/>But at my new school...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Vedika | Mindful Eye / Cassidy | Flash Cut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mindful Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back then, I was always alone.<br/>If you are smart, people tend to see you as an unsocial nerd quickly. If you are shy, you get labelled as a weirdo. And I just happened to have both of these character traits. So obviously, everyone tended to avoid me, unless they wanted my help on school stuff.<br/>So when I got The Dream, I didn’t think too long about switching schools.</p>
<p>At first, Future’s promise was not that different in this regard. <br/>There were no girls who were thematic with me, and of course it still was difficult for me to start a conversation with strangers. At least the other girls were better at hiding their rejection than the ones at my old school, which made the whole situation at least a little better.</p>
<p>It changed when I ran into my first friend. Literally, as both of us happened to be in a hurry and none of us paid much attention to our surroundings. The crash knocked me down and made me lose my glasses, so at first I had no idea what had happened or who this vaguely human-shaped pink blob was.</p>
<p>This was my first meeting with the one everyone at school, including me, admired: the famous Heartful Punch.<br/>Contrary to her solitary image, she was actually really nice to everyone, even to a shrinking violet like me. Whenever we met in the hallway after that, she took the time to exchange a few words with me.<br/>After a while, she told me about some sort of unofficial training group she had created, and invited me to join. I tried to refuse at first, as my powers were not useful for combat in any way, but she insisted, saying that strengthening my body would not hurt. There was nothing I could say against that, so I agreed to at least check it out. <br/>On that evening, HP introduced me to her other friends.<br/>Harley, the strong physical fighter.<br/>Bud, our school’s infamous gossip queen.<br/>And Cassidy.</p>
<p>It felt nice. They didn’t ask any weird questions, they just welcomed me with open arms.<br/>Even as I demonstrated my lack of athletic abilities, all I got from then was encouragement and cheering. And when it came to training our magical abilities, none of them were grossed out by my ability to read their thoughts, instead they tried to come up with creative ways to improve my telepathy.<br/>With time, I not only improved my fitness, my self-confidence took a large boost as well. I even was able to hold normal conversations with girls outside the MGPTC.<br/>A few weeks after I joined the club, I decided to volunteer at a hospital at night. When I told the others about my decision, they were very supportive, which in turn encouraged me to do my best. After all, this was my way to help people without getting in the way of actual combatants. The bad part was, of course, that I had to see first-hand how injured people woke up, but since it was a rare occurrence, I somehow managed.</p>
<p>Then it happened.<br/>One day, everything as usual. The next morning, they held a school assembly and told everyone the news: In just that one night, one of the more popular teams had lost three of their five members, with a fourth one left powerless. It came as a shock for everyone. Injuries were not rare, but fatalities almost never happened, and now we had three in one night<br/>Even untransformed, I was able to feel, almost <em>see, </em>everyone’s feelings. Shock, sadness, surprise, even anger …all of these were mixing in the room and flooding straight into my mind, amplifying my own emotions. It was just too much. As soon as possible, I left the room. For the first time ever, I skipped lessons, instead I was just crying in a quiet corner.</p>
<p>The one who found me was Cassidy.<br/>I expected her to ask weird questions, but she simply sat down beside me and held my hand. And she didn’t let go until I had calmed down. Only then she asked how I was feeling. And I told her how the mass of students and their emotions had directly affected myself because of my powers. She listened the entire time, her face showing nothing but concern for my well-being. At the end, I was crying again, and she just hugged me without saying anything. It felt nice. Really nice.</p>
<p>Over the next few days, Cassidy seemed determined to be by my side as much as possible, always ready in case I broke down again. On some nights, she even skipped her patrols to keep me company in the hospital. It turned out to be unnecessary, but I was still thankful. And slowly I started to realize that both of us might have feelings that were…more than just simple friendship for each other.<br/>So one day, I gathered all my courage and asked her out.</p>
<p>We decided to keep our relationship a secret from the others. Not because they would be against it, we just enjoyed having our own little secret between the two of us. I still sometimes thought about how they would react to it.<br/>HP would probably encourage us, while Harley would most likely not care about it.<br/>Bud probably already knew about it, thanks to her gossip network.<br/>And Undine seemed to have different things to care about, that much I understood from our telepathy training. She also was hiding some things. Honestly, sometimes she scared me a little.</p>
<p>I told Cassidy. I never expected her to confront Undine about it. Especially the way she did.<br/>I had no choice but to take Undine’s side, which probably hurt her pretty bad. Her face when she looked at me, just before she ran off, haunted me the whole night. I had a hard time focusing on work. But I was sure it would be a lot worse for her.</p>
<p>For the first time since we started dating, Cassidy was not waiting for me when my shift ended.<br/>She probably needed some time alone to sort things out, so I went home alone.<br/>It felt somewhat weird. Although it had only been a short while, I had gotten used to having her with me, so now I felt a little uncomfortable all alone. It made me hurry, to shake off that feeling.<br/>When I got home, I tried to call Cassidy. She didn’t pick up the call, so I thought she would need some more time to calm down. I also called one of her teammates I somewhat knew from some of my classes, but she only told me that Cassidy had not shown up for patrol that night.<br/>Going to bed with a slightly uneasy feeling, I decided to talk to her the next day, as despite everything that had happened, I still loved her.</p>
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